


Beyond The Body

by HeartVacancies



Category: Stand By Me (1986)
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-02-20
Updated: 2016-07-26
Packaged: 2018-05-22 02:12:55
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 3
Words: 1,423
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6066756
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/HeartVacancies/pseuds/HeartVacancies
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Gordie and Chris may drift apart from each other as they grow up, but Vern and Teddy don't think they're likely to... and I'm inclined to agree, but then I know a story that you don't. Read on.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Prologue

Not much had changed for Teddy and Vern since the summer of '59, they didn't talk to Gordy and Chris quite as much since they had stopped being in the same classes. Gordy doing college classes was obvious, Chris doing them as well was not so much. Regardless, Vern considered this to be a good thing, because it meant that nine times out of ten, Ace and his gang would decide to torment the other two rather than himself and Teddy, which was absolutely fine by him. Sincerely, it was. They weren't twelve anymore, but Vern and Teddy were still best friends. In fact, they were almost convinced now, that it would be that way forever, and I'm inclined to agree... but then I know a story you don't. Don't worry though, I'm here to tell you that story, I think it's one of the more important stories in the world.


	2. He Wasn't Meant To Know

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> (Sorry in advance for the use of the word faggot. Sorry. Sorry.)

It seemed that in the separation of the two pairs of boys, Teddy and Vern had somehow claimed the tree house. It was never a spoken deal, but Chris and Gordy never went up there anymore and they seemed okay with Teddy and Vern inviting their new friends up. Eventually the secret knock was eradicated. You just had to knock. This was partly for Vern's benefit (he still never remembered the damn knock) and partly because so many people were allowed in the tree house, that there was no point in a secret knock.

This story starts just as summer does, right before the end of the school year. Teddy and Vern had taken the day off work to play cards in the tree house, which was pretty normal for them. What wasn't normal was the fact that Vern was winning. He was winning by a lot. The exact moment we need to worry about, is the one that happened right after Teddy realised he had lost and there was no way to claw it back to a win. "You goddamn fucking homo." Teddy spoke, packing as much insult as he could into the simple phrase, he hated losing. For some reason, probably because he had been so concentrated on the fact that he had won, the word 'homo' caught Vern off guard. The blush had risen in his cheeks before he could even really process any word in the sentence that wasn't homo.

They both froze, neither wanting to be the first to talk. They were both thinking pretty much the same thing, Vern had somehow silently given his secret away, and although Teddy had his suspicions, they had never been confirmed. Well, until now. It was Teddy who spoke, mainly trying to comfort himself, "But... you're not right?" he asked carefully, watching Vern for an answer. Vern shook his head, but he was still bright red and his shake was non-committal. He didn't want to straight up lie. Teddy shook his own head, "S'fucking disgusting." he practically spat, apparently forgetting that Vern was his best friend in the entire world as he moved the table out of the way to get out of the tree house. Vern stayed frozen in his chair, a stream of insults leaving Teddy's mouth as he left the tree house, the only one that reached Vern's ears was 'faggot' because that was the one that hurt. As soon as Teddy was gone from view, Vern didn't feel so frozen. He jumped from his seat, scrambling down the ladder and following Teddy.

"Teddy, Teddy... Ted!" he called as he tried to keep up with the faster boy, "Please, it's not like that, I'm not going to..." he shook his head, not knowing how to finish the sentence, what was he not going to do? It wasn't like he hadn't ever liked Teddy and would never like him. Hell, if he thought about it, he even liked Teddy right now... and that was after Teddy had said all that mean stuff. Teddy carried on walking, still muttering insults that Vern could hardly hear. Vern continued following him, not having a clue how to fix this but not wanting to lose his best friend. Teddy turned on his heel, looking Vern straight in the eye, "Stop following me." he said firmly, the most calm he had been since the whole thing had started. Vern just nodded, how could he argue with that? He stood there and watched his friend walk away from him, feeling powerless to do anything.


	3. And He Can't Deal With It

After Vern had gotten home, eaten and slept, the whole situation didn't seem nearly as bad as it had the day before. Sure Teddy was mad, but they were best friends and Vern was pretty sure even Teddy couldn't hold onto that rage. In fact, Vern thought he would enlist some help from the only person Teddy had ever listened to, Chris Chambers. So when he had eaten all the breakfast he could fit inside his stomach, he left his own house and walked over to the Chambers residence, which was just a little more scary than the Duchamp residence, what with the added danger of Eyeball answering.

There was a long wait between Vern knocking on the door and someone answering, luckily it was Chris. As soon as the boy saw how upset Vern was, he stepped outside of the house, shutting the door behind him and immediately asking Vern what was up. Vern's hands were shaking. Telling Chris what was up meant telling him that he wasn't straight. Vern knew Chris though, he knew that, unlike Teddy, Chris would be calm and wouldn't hate Vern for no reason, it would be okay to tell him. He was pretty sure. Even as he started to tell the story, his bottom lip quivered, and that was quickly followed by tears as he told Chris everything. When he was done, Chris wrapped his arms around the boy, "Alright... Alright..." he murmured, "We'll sort it." he promised. Though even Chris had no idea how to go about talking to Teddy about this.

It was less than an hour later that Chris turned up at Teddy's house, having decided that he may as well go and see what Teddy was thinking before he tried to just deal with the problem. Chris Chambers wasn't a scared boy, he'd do just about anything, but going to talk to Teddy right now, was scary. Terrifying even. Chris didn't have to knock on the door because Teddy was sat on the lawn outside his house smoking. "Hiya..." Chris started awkwardly, Teddy nodded in reply, sitting up properly to look at Chris as he carried on talking, "I was hoping we could talk?"

"Talk away." Teddy shrugged, raising one eyebrow at the boy.

Chris thought for a moment, moving to sit with Teddy, "I hear you're not friends with our Vern anymore."

Teddy snorted ever so slightly, rolling his eyes, "That'd be correct."

"Right... well, he told me why, and I think you're being dumb." Chris said clearly, trying not to chew his lip.

Teddy shook his head, resting his elbows on his knees and taking a drag of his cigarette, "He told you he's a faggot... and you think I'm being dumb?"

Chris nodded, watching Teddy carefully, "That's what I said ain't it?"

"Now, now Chris Chambers..." Teddy started, turning to face the boy, "I think we both know in our little hearts, that faggots can't be friends."

"Stop using that word. I swear Duchamp, stop saying it." Chris said firmly.

Teddy smirked, singing out the word, "Faggot, faggot, faggoty faggot."

Chris pulled at the sleeves of his leather jacket, biting his lip before aiming a punch, hitting Teddy hard as he could in the arm. Teddy flinched when Chris hit his arm, something Chris had never seen him do. He knew he had hit him pretty hard. Teddy shook his head and mumbled out, "Look, it's whatever okay? I don't want to be friends with him. I'm not gonna avoid him like the plague, we have all the same friends... but he ain't no friend of mine."

Chris rolled his eyes, and in a last ditch attempt to do something about Teddy and Vern's friendship he told a lie, "Yeah well, Gordie wants a sleepover with all of us on the last night of school alright? And you both better be there, because Gord wants it, and I want what he wants." Teddy went to argue, but eventually settled on nodding. There was no point in arguing with a Chambers when they wanted something that bad.


End file.
